Major Mentor drainage project may get grant

Sidewalks are being added near a Mentor school, “Fairy Houses” make their debut at Wildwood and a major drainage project is a step closer to grant funding — those items and more in latest weekly city manager memo to City Council.

Highlights:• The OPWC District 7 Lake County Local Integrating Committee met this week and recommended five Local Transportation Improvement Program projects and six state Capital Improvement Program projects to be presented to the full integrating committee. Of these, one Mentor project — the Two Town Detention Basin — was recommended for grant and loan funding. Final award and funding amount will be determined after approval by the full committee.

• Infinity Paving began construction on the Safe Routes to School Project Friday. Work will begin with construction of a sidewalk along Hendricks Road from Eagles Nest to Orchard Hollow Elementary. The remaining work consists of the construction of curb ramps on Jordan Drive at Spinnaker Court, an update to the school flashers at Shore Middle School and a path constructed on Shore Middle School property from the school to Washington Avenue. Bike racks will also be placed at each of the three schools.

• The “Fairy Houses” were delivered and installed at Wildwood last week with the cooperation of the Wildwood Garden Club. The 10 houses are the first of their kind in the area and the artist hopes that people will enjoy the new attraction in the Wildwood Gardens.

Manager Comments• On June 18, the Mentor Senior Center held a 40th Anniversary Celebration. A photo montage was presented that covered the history of the center. Past Center Director Laura Imbornoni and Recreation Programmer Kim Nolan, who witnessed the metamorphosis of the center, were on hand to talk about where we were and how we got here today.

• On June 17, supervisors for the fire and police departments joined participants from Mentor Schools and Mentor-on-the-Lake Fire Department, in a joint table-top training exercise at the Mentor High School. The purpose of the exercise was to enhance our community response to school-based emergencies and provide school officials and public safety forces an opportunity to train together and discuss procedures, resources and response capabilities, and pre-event response actions. The exercise was a very important step in ongoing work toward better emergency preparedness between the schools and the city.

Fire Department• On June 13 at 7:38 p.m., the Fire Department responded to a roll-over injury accident on SR 2 West of 306. This was a single car accident where two patients suffered significant injuries.

• On June 13 at 8:12 p.m., the Fire Department responded to a car vs. tree accident on Harvest Home. Paramedics arrived to find a vehicle in the road that had moderate damage from the tree. The driver had left the scene on foot and was later located by the police. The driver was injured, but refused care.

• On June 13 at 11:06 p.m., paramedics responded to a car vs. deer accident. Upon arrival, the patient was a restrained driver who hit a deer at 60 mph. The patient was unharmed and signed a release.

• On June 14 at 11:43 p.m., Paramedics responded to a motorcycle accident. Upon arrival, the patient was unresponsive at the scene, treated for severe injuries and transported to Lake Catholic School where a landing zone was set up for Life Flight. The patient was then transported to MetroHealth Level II Trauma Center.

• On June 14 at 12:11 p.m., Paramedics responded to a multicar MVA. Upon arrival, there were four cars with moderate damage. One patient was extricated from his vehicle and treated at the scene and then transported to Lake Health West. Three other patients refused treatment and signed releases.

• On June 20 at 12:33 p.m., the Fire Department responded to a pedestrian struck by a pick-up truck at Mentor Avenue and Hopkins. The female pedestrian was struck while crossing Mentor Avenue. She was treated and transported in stable condition. The driver denied any injuries.

• On June 20 at 12:24 p.m., the Fire Department responded to a hotel on Reynolds Road for smoke in the hallway. Crews arrived to find the building partially evacuated and smoke on the third and fourth floors. The cause was later determined to be a faulty HVAC unit; there was no fire. Fire crews shut down the unit and ventilated the building with little disruption to the hotel.

Police Department• The juvenile arrested for making a bomb threat at Ridge Middle school in February was ordered by Juvenile Court to pay $1,000 restitution to the city of Mentor. The restitution is for the cost of the city safety forces that responded to the false alarm.

• Channel 19 interviewed Capt. Gunsch regarding the implementation of the mobile app iWatchNEOhio. The story was shown on the 4 and 6 p.m. broadcasts. Channel 19 did a good job promoting the use of the app and encouraging citizens to work in a partnership with the police department.

Engineering• Bids were opened for the Hoose Road resurfacing project on June 18. Bids were favorable and legislation is being prepared for council consideration at the July 2 Council Meeting.

• Bids were opened for the SR 306 concrete repair project on June 18. Bids were favorable and legislation is being prepared for Council consideration at the July 2 Council Meeting.

Parks and Recreation Department• The first of the Summer Concerts will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center Amphitheatre. Contra Band will kickoff the season with a blend of Motown favorites and Classic Rock. We’d like to thank Dollar Bank for their sponsorship of the summer concerts.

• More than 300 swimmers joined the staff at Civic Center Pool on June 18 to try to break the record for the largest swimming lesson. The results will be in at the beginning of July.

• The 33rd Wildwood Fine Arts Festival will be held Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Wildwood Cultural Center. We will feature pottery, painting, ceramics, and photography, along with entertainment and light refreshments. There is a $2 donation.

Economic and Community Development• The Single-Family Housing Rehabilitation program is well under way for the season, having completed, begun or reviewed projects for 10 households. If anyone has knowledge of a low-to-moderate income individual or a family that needs housing rehabilitation assistance, please have them contact Tom O’Hara in Community Development. The program usually assists between 15 and 20 households per year with a variety of home rehabilitation projects.

Finance• We were notified by the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA) that the city will be receiving $569,583 as its share of refunded retainer fees. Our total net costs of collection to the agency after the refund equals 1.5 percent. The refund is $75,000 higher than last year’s refund.